WASHINGTON (AP) – Hurricane Laura is testing an already stretched Federal Emergency Management Agency in what is shaping up to be an unprecedentedly disastrous year. FEMA has never faced a year like 2020.
COVID-19 has prompted emergency declarations for all U.S. states and territories for the first time. The agency has deployed personnel to help with the wildfires in the west and the damaging series of recent storms in Iowa.
There are no signs yet that FEMA has been unable to adequately respond to Hurricane Laura, but members of Congress have expressed concern about vacancies in leadership posts and President Donald Trump’s executive order to partially extend COVID-19 jobless benefits with money from FEMA.
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